Growing up in Louisiana was an experience unlike any other. I mean, who doesn't enjoy spicy foods, king cake, Mardi Gras, and a Louisiana Saturday night. No, we don't all have alligators in our backyards and we don't marry our cousins, contrary to the rest of America's perception. I can honestly say that I am a southerner at heart and I never really expected that to change. Drinking sweet tea on hot summer days and wearing shorts in December was a lifestyle for me, and the only lifestyle I had ever known. However, following my freshman year of high school, my world and everything I knew in Louisiana would completely change.

No one ever plans to grow up with divorced parents in a blended family. But, God is very unique in the ways that he works and the people he introduces into our lives. The summer of 2004, my mother got remarried and I felt indifferent about the situation. New siblings and a new house, okay I can do this. However, one specific detail about my new stepfather was the career he had and would hold for many years to come: he was a soldier in the United States Army. The dynamic of my family was now changed, because the civilian family and military family life had some key differences.

Our family was blessed to maintain our residence in my hometown of Alexandria for years to come. I didn't have to change schools, friend groups, or even church locations. During this time, my stepdad had been on multiple deployments overseas, which had enabled me to maintain a relatively stable home life. I had equal time seeing my mother and my father during this time, even though they were divorced and lived on opposite ends of town.

However, things began to change my eight grade year when my stepdad received a very unique opportunity. He had been recognized as an exceptional leader in the Army, and the United States Military Academy wanted him to come be a professor. Wow, what an opportunity God had provided him with to be in such an amazing position. When my mom first approached me about this opportunity I began to question what it really meant for my life. It simply meant that I had to make a choice: either stay at home with my dad and everything I knew, or begin a new life in West Point, NY, where I knew absolutely nothing.

I had time to decide and really figure out where I wanted my life to go. But goodness it was so tough, how could I choose between my mom or dad? Why wouldn't I stay in the only place I had ever known? New York ... do I really want to become a Yankee? Do I really want to start at a new high school? These questions may all seem trivial, but they were very pertinent at the time. Either decision I made would alter the course of my life for the next three years as I finished out high school.

In the time leading up to my decision, there had been many tears shed with my parents and various sleepless nights. I had to really ask the Lord for patience and guidance for me to be lead down the path which he intended. I can honestly say this was the hardest decision I've made in my life thus far.

Finally, I came to the decision that New York would be my new home. My mother reassured me that flights back to Louisiana for school breaks to visit my dad, would be regular occurrences without any hesitation. This provided me with that comfort cushion of encouragement as I embarked on this new journey. I would leave Louisiana, but it would always be there for me when I came back. There's an old saying that goes something like, "You can take the boy out of Louisiana, but you can't take the Louisiana out of the boy."

There I found myself in a smaller room, a smaller house, on a military base where I knew absolutely nothing. I was just thrown into James I O'Neill High School, as a sophomore that acted more like a freshman, due to my low key and relatively unknown presence among the student body. Was this really the right choice? Is it normal to feel this alone and isolated when you relocate? This time in my life was very trying and rough because I was very confused and alone, with no friends nor any sense of fitting in. Why God?

Then one day, a day that sticks out very distinctively in my mind during my first weeks in New York, a senior named Dylan Kelly reached out to me. She was very friendly and gratuitous with welcoming me to her home state, and it was on this day that she invited me to something I had never heard of called YoungLife. Finally, I now found a group of people that I fit in with. I could come out of my shell and people would embrace who I was, even if I had a southern accent.

As I continued to my search for belonging, I began to understand what it was like to be a military brat. You get thrown into a new home and you find your place on that new military base; however, three years pass and you have to move on. You find yourself leaving everything you've known and starting over yet again. I was amazed by the number of times many people I had became friends with moved, some of them moved anywhere from five to twelve times by the time they were seniors in high school. I couldn't even imagine this being a lifestyle, because my one move was hard enough.

Early on in my sophomore year things continue to be hard, and I questioned whether or not I even belonged here. I continued to give it a chance, but I felt ready to move on and go back to Louisiana. I would finish out the year, but I thought I was ready to go back.

Madison Woodruff, Christian Barnard, and Sean Dinofrio were easily three of the most important people that I became close with early on in West Point. Also, my YoungLife leader Bekah Siau continually pursued me with the heart of Christ. They loved on me and really understood the challenges I was facing as I relocated. Okay, now I have friends so maybe I should give it another chance, right?

In the end, New York would become my home in a way that I had never expected. I continued my sophomore year out and would finish out my time in high school at O'Neill. God blessed me with great experiences, friends, and opportunities that I never had before. Going out of my comfort zone was all I had to do in order to find my niche. My time in New York flew by and before I knew it, I was walking across the stage on graduation day.

Now, here I am in Waco, Texas, at Baylor University. I find myself reminiscing all of the good times I had and the even better people I met.

All of those YoungLife winter weekends at Lake Champion.

The Wednesday nights with the Osuna's youth group.

Basically becoming a second son to the Salus family.

The many late night adventures with Liv, Natalie, and Bridget.

The arguments with my best friend Madi Woodruff.

(via Elizabeth Woodruff Photography)

The deep conversations which explored spirituality and the meaning of life with Christian, Sean, and Jimmy.

There are so many more memories, which have shaped me into someone who had felt more at home than ever before.

I miss it, I miss my friends and going 'home' isn't the same, because my friends aren't there.

I am so very thankful for the sacrifices many of our United States soldiers and their families make in order to preserve our constitutional freedoms. Luckily, my family had this wonderfully unique opportunity to move and experience a new lifestyle. I cannot be more thankful for everything God has given me and made possible for me.

People today often ask the question, "Where are you from?" I never thought this question could be so hard. So I would answer, "I am from New York ... but grew up in Louisiana." I may not have grown up in New York, but it was just as much of my home as Louisiana ever was.

I hope to be home soon...